by a few people on irc, and they havent gotten it either - his newsserver
is probably running at his pace, ie 2 days behind the rest of us :-)
Due to the requests for it on irc, Iam posting it again. (Yes, I know
Ive just cost the net hundreds and thousands of dollars. Iam sorry, but
people should not have to wait for news such as this :-)
Once more, thanks to our friendly netburrhood reporter Ajay
"Acme" Mittal, to Pradeep Vijaykar, to the Times of India, and to Sairaj
Bahutule, for making life worth living. :-)
******************************************************
Bahutule forces Rest to follow on
By Pradeep Vilayakar
BOMBAY, October 14.
Bombay legspinner Sairaj Bahutule came good when it counted at the
***hede Stadium today.With the eyes of three of the five national
selectors trained on him, Bahutule bowled unchanged for 14 overs as he
finished with a haul of seven wickets for 63 to help Bombay enforce
the follow-on againt Rest of India on the third day of the five- day
Irani trophy match.Rest, who were all out for 193 in reply to Bombay's
424, were 81 for one at the close-- still having to clear 150 of the
231-run deficit.
Bahutule, with 387 runs and 35 wickets last season for
Bombay, has been pressing his claims as a genuine allrounder. He had
claimed two wickets in 14 overs last evening.Today, he had five of the
remaining six wickets, showing superb control over line and length
.There was a welcome sight of the ball hurrying through on pitching,
which ensured the batsmen had always to exercise care. Only in the
second innings was Bahutule hit, twice by the tall opener Vikram
Rathore. who for second time in the match, created a good impression.
One expected Bahutule to respond in the true manner of
spinners - buy Rathore's wicket.But that seems old-fashioned nowadays.
One contributing factor could be the powerful bats they make. A
mistimed shot reaches the boundary and a well-timed shot goes over.
After Abey Kuruvilla had over- night batsman Vijay Yadav leg
before playing across the line,Ashish Kapoor edged Bahutule to second
slip Sunil More. Sunil Siubramaniam gave a return catch. Obaid Kamal
lofted into midoff Kuruvilla's hands.The well-entrenched Rahul Dravid,
who had hung on for 159 minutes for his 40, cut a delivery turning
away from him to be caught by 'keeper Sameer Dighe and last man Iqbal
Siddiqui edgd to Manjrekar at slip.
With both Kuruvilla and Bahutule bowling well, skipper
Manjrekar didn't have to turn to any other bowler except Mhambrey,
who had four overs . Still, it was perplexing why the other spinner
in the side, offspinner Mahesh Karanjkar was not given a bowl.
When brought on as the fifth bowler in the second innings,
Karanjkar, as in the first innings, got the first breakthrough. He got
one to turn and kick and the well- set Ajay Mehra(32) was compelled to
poke at it and push towards slip where Manjrkear took a catch at the
second attempt.The Bombay skipper had earlier reacted late to snap up
an edge off Rathore in Karanjkar's first over.
Rathore played the pull and the lofted shot most eagerly and
there was never a dull moment when he was on stike.He is unbeaten with
44 with six fours and a six. A real big knock is needed from the man
who scored over 1,000 runs last season if the Rest are to take the
match into the fifth day.
Conditions were overcast for most of the day when only 56
minutes play was possible in the first session though play began on
time. The rains, which lashed the suburbs, spared the ***hede
Stadium. A morning drizzle held up play .The Bombay medium-pacers
tried to bowl fast instead of trying to wobble the ball and it was left
to the spinners to get the wickets.
Bombay (1st Innings): 424
Rest of India !st Innings: (overnight 142-2)
V.Rathore c Patel b Karanjkar 60
A.Mehra lbw b Kuruvilla 46
S.Sugwekar c Manjrekar b Bahutule 0
P.Amre c and b b Bahutule 10
R.Dravid c Dighe b Bahutule 40
V.Yadav lbw b Kuruvilla 13
A.Kapoor c More b Bahutule 0
S.Subramaniam c and b b Bahutule 6
O.Kamal c Kuruvilla b Bahutule 0
P.Vaidya not out 7
Extras (B 3, LB 1, NB 7) 11
TOTAL all out 193
FOW: 1-84, 2-97, 3-118, 4-120, 5-160, 6-168, 7-179, 8-183, 9-189
Bowling
Paras Mhambrey 11 2 41 0
Abey Kuruvilla 24 8 57 2
Sairaj Bahutule 30.1 8 63 7
Manish Patel 2 0 14 0
Mahesh Karanjkar 3 1 14 1
Rest of India 2nd Innings: (following on)
V.Rathore not out 44
A.Mehra c Manjrekar b Karanjkar 32
O.Kamal not out 4
Extras (LB 1) 1
TOTAL for 1 wicket 81
FOW: 1-69
Bowling
Paras Mhambrey 10 1 34 0
Manish Patel 7 1 11 0
Abey Kuruvilla 2 1 1 0
Sairaj Bahutule 10 4 15 0
Mahesh Karanjkar 5 0 19 1
Stumps, Day 3
******************************************************
A wonderful performance by Sairaj - Azzie clearly knew what he
was talking about :-) It seems from the reports that the pitch isnt
really breaking up either, which makes the performance very special
indeed.
I had expressed an opinion last season that I hoped Sairaj would
be given more time to develop and learn his craft. That he ought to be
picked for the Board President's XI game against WI and the like, but
not pushed into test cricket right away, as he might not be ready. That
we should be looking at him long-term, and letting him develop so that
he could be effective for a long period, and not just the shooting-star
that Siva and Hirwani turned out to be.
Well, Iam no longer quite as certain - this performance, against
the best reserve batting in the country, clearly shows that he is
further into his development than I had thought. He may well be ready to
make a push for national selection this year - 7/63 in 30 overs, under the
eye of 3 of the 5 national selectors, cannot have done his case any
harm. It has long been a personal axiom, that one should never have a
youngster make his debut against the WI :-). However, this may well be a
different case - he is a leggie and the pitches ought to be turners, and
the WI are without their two most experienced batsmen. It may indeed be
a good time for him.
Iam not suggesting that he should most definately be in the test
team right now - on turners, Raju probably will not do too badly.
However, if the rumours of Kapil retiring are true, that changes the
Indian situation. Kapil will obviously be replaced by Srinath in the 11
- that's fine. However, if that is to be the case, the batting is
severly weakened. We then have to find a bowler who can bat a bit, to at
least partially compensate for Kapil's loss. And in that case, Bahutule
replacing one of the spinners is not inconceivable, as he offers that
extra something with the bat. If Kapil is indeed to retire, a bowling
attack of Srinath, Prabhakar, Kumble, Chauhan and Bahutule seems to me
to offer the most balance, both in terms of variety of spin and ability
with the bat.
Anyway. Bharat, I said a good game seemed to be in prospect, and
I was right. It *is* a good game. A very good game. I havent enjoyed a
game this much in ages :-) :-)
Seriously, though, I didnt expect this sort of turn-about. I was
being pessimistic, yes, but that's because the Bombay team often
resembles the Indian side in one aspect - just like the Indian side,
they often let opposing teams off the hook with the ball. Sure 142/4
wasnt great. But Dravid and Yadav are both very good bats. And Ashish
Kapoor is a fine bat too - really as good as most specialist bats around
(he had a ton in last season's Irani Trophy game). Those 3 were the
crucial wickets, and Bombay got them pretty quickly yesterday.
As it is, Bombay is about 150 clear at the moment, and ROI has 9
wickets in hand. It isnt over yet, of course, games have been won from
far worse situations in the past. If ROI can set Bombay a decent target
in the 4th inning on a crumbling pitch, things may not be that easy.
Subramanium is a much better spinner than he demonstrated in the first
inning, and Bombay has gone in with 5 specialist batsmen (and one of
them, Amol, is probably having the worst streak of his career to date).
BTW, I like Pradeep Vijaykar a lot as a reporter. However, I
have a quibble :-) He says, quote, " Only in the second innings was
Bahutule hit, twice by the tall opener Vikram Rathore." Now, in the 2nd
innings, Bahutule's figures are 10 overs for 15 runs - surely the above
comment gives a false impression ? :-) Maybe he was hit for 2 fours in
his 10 overs - still, saying he was "hit" gives the impression of
Rathore going after him and knocking him out of the attack, no ? (or
would that only be referred to as "belted" ? :-)
Also, Abey Kuruvilla has bowled only 2 of the 34 overs bowled by
Bombay in the 2nd innings so far - considering the fact that he looked
so good in the first inning, thats looks a surprising decision from
Manjrekar too.
Still, one cant complain *too* much about Bombay's situation in
this game so far :-) Hopefully Sairaj and Abey can further the good
impressions created so far in the game in tomorrow's play :-)
Sadiq [ offically #1 Sairaj fan on rsc - bandwagon-
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